Hero's Coffin Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Harenir seemed to have deduced the situation as soon as he came to the clearing to find them. That the last core had moved, and the knights had gone to deal with it.

"That became the answer."

Harenir nodded slightly as if in gratitude, and then raised his holy sword vertically. With a distant mind, he watched this scene while retracing Harenir's attitude up until now.

Although Harenir said he hadn't been certain of the answer, he hadn't hesitated in destroying the cores. From the moment the contaminated energy in this space decreased even slightly, a faint satisfaction had appeared on his face.

Moreover, all his companions believed that Harenir had some solution. Even though they were greatly shocked by the existence of Diums that had appeared after decades, they ultimately followed the commander's orders while facing them.

All those attitudes were clearly based on 'trust' and.

Harenir's eyes, following the tip of the sword up to the sky, were clearer than ever.

"... ... ..."

He couldn't understand the words Harenir muttered next. It was an unfamiliar language, not the imperial tongue. Though it wasn't translated by the possession buff, he guessed it might be some divine language.

The only familiar sound was 'Solnium', the name that the priest in the main hall had uttered when he fell to his knees upon seeing the holy sword disappear. It seemed that Harenir was saying something to the god worshipped in the Holy Empire.

The son said to be loved by God. His murmur seemed to be directed only to the god, scattering softly in the wind, but.

Only one word resonated in his mind as if engraved.

"[Purification.]"

The moment the calm voice fell like a sentence, whoosh— brilliant golden light poured down into the forest. The light that gathered at the tip of Harenir's vertically raised sword exploded outwards the moment he turned the sword and thrust it into the ground. As the holy power surged magnificently, his vision was dyed white.

It was as if the warm sunlight of midday enveloped the entire space. It was a golden energy that, though he hadn't even known of its existence, made him feel as if he had desperately longed for it the moment he encountered it.

The forest began to find its 'color'.

The black and white world finally bathed in complete light and began to take on fresh colors. A verdant light swirled around the ground where Harenir's holy sword was thrust, painting the grass and coloring the trees. All of it was fresh and brilliant. Even the color of the rocks seemed vivid, as if imbued with life force. An exclamation escaped his half-open mouth at the marvelous sight.

"Ah..."

This space felt almost like a 'sacred realm'.

[I-impossible! This can't be...!]

The Dium trembled and struggled violently. As if the sight of diverse life force settling into the faded black and white land was utterly disgusting, as if the scene of their conquered land disappearing was horrifying, it let out a terrible scream. Rumble— As if the Dium had summoned all its strength, a pitch-black energy swirled fiercely.

It was such a vicious miasma that even his body, far away, tensed up. Centered on where the Dium stood, contaminated energy spread again, and the forest slowly lost its color, but...

Step. The moment Harenir took one step towards the Dium, vivid greenery spread again. The storm of miasma summoned by the Dium and the brilliant light surrounding Harenir collided in opposite directions, and the result was as obvious as it was futile. All of the Dium's actions were nothing more than pitiful struggles.

With each step, each step closer, the Dium's energy scattered and its body began to crumble like ash. It lost its legs and collapsed to the ground, and its outstretched arms also disappeared.

[Ugh, aah, aaaaargh!]

"The answer to my question..."

[Ah... aah...!]

"It seems you still don't intend to answer."

It was an extremely insulting remark to make to a Dium whose mouth had already disappeared. But Harenir's eyes softened as if he was genuinely disappointed, and blood vessels bulged in the Dium's eyes as it looked up at him. Even those blood vessels being pitch black was quite alien, but... soon even the Dium's face eroded away.

Finally, they had succeeded in eliminating the Diums hiding in the Encroachment Zone and purifying the zone itself.

"Woohooo!"

"As expected of the Commander!"

While Noi and Kalterik burst into noisy cheers, he also marveled along with them.

Is this the level of ability one needs to be called a hero? The purification just now would have been a kind of ultimate skill or special move in game terms. Max-level self-healing ability and even a skill to purify contaminated spaces.

Usually, when a specific character shows such overpowered abilities, people ask if they're the developer's child... That's right. Harenir is really called the son of God. So are these abilities natural for him?

While secretly thinking how envious he was of him, he quickly scanned the area. The forest was gradually regaining its colors, and even the fallen zombies—the villagers—in the distance were regaining their colors as well.

Strangely, all tension dissipated from the scene. Was it relief? He had mocked the knights for fumbling in front of the zombies, but in the end, their actions had affected him too. It's just a game scenario, after all. After creating some distance by grumbling internally, he grabbed Noi and asked,

"Are you sure it's resolved?"

Noi, who had been about to run towards Harenir, flinched as if surprised by the unexpected touch. But upon hearing his question, he frowned deeply. As if he had received an incredibly absurd question, he raised his voice to answer.

"Of course! Haren solved everything!"

"I see..."

"You saw it just now too. The light from the holy sword...!"

He nodded slowly to Noi's continuous praise. If Noi, who played the role of the intelligent aide in this party, was this certain, the situation must surely be resolved. Yes, if that's the case...

Thud.

He collapsed face-first onto the ground. It wasn't a gradual collapse while kneeling, but a fall like a log, with his face hitting the ground first. He couldn't even stop himself from falling forward. He heard Noi scream "Aaaah?!" but now he didn't have the strength to move even a finger.

The aftereffects, which had been temporarily delayed due to the tension from the shocking scene, rushed in all at once. He had asked for at least a sound-off function if logging out was impossible, but the developer provided a fainting function instead. Even a mountain spirit would shake its head at this bastard...

His vision turned pitch black, and his consciousness was abruptly cut off.

#Part 4. 8%

Blink, blink...

He slowly opened and closed his eyelids. Somehow, the body moving according to his will felt unfamiliar, so he repeatedly lowered and raised his eyelids several times while staring at the ceiling. As he blankly looked at the dark brown ceiling of what seemed to be a wooden building.

–Meow.

A small sound was heard, and then a soft sensation touched his chin. Startled, he looked down.

A black cat.

No wonder his chest had felt heavy, how long had it been there? While surprised, he realized he was still in the game only upon seeing the cat. Waking up in this world was still unfamiliar.

The cat's mysterious purple eyes scanned him intently. Its gaze, seemingly checking various parts of his face, looked almost worried, which felt strange. Come to think of it, even in the Encroachment Zone, the cat had pushed him to save him from the Dium's attack.

Do familiars usually have a special bond with their masters? Or was it because of an NPC patch? It seemed to be looking after him almost like a guardian.

"Hey NPC. I went through a lot, isn't there a mid-game reward?"

–Meow.

"Judging by your response, you seem to understand."

-...

"Now you've suddenly stopped answering."

He tried asking the cat a few more times, but the conversation didn't continue. Both the status window and the NPC were in poor condition in this game. Feeling annoyed, he tried to grab the cat to interrogate it, but his newly awakened body lacked strength. The cat noticed his intention and ran away faster than his limp arm could move.

Regretfully watching the cat's retreating figure, he slowly got up from the bed. Judging by the inn room, it seemed they were taking a brief rest after eliminating the Encroachment Zone...

Creak—

He staggered to the door and barely managed to open it. It was connected to a large living room that looked like it might be for common use, and as soon as he opened the door, he came face to face with blue eyes. The only being with eyes containing a blue light more vivid than any sky he had ever seen was him, Harenir.

Harenir always wore his uniform under his robe, so the more casual attire looked unfamiliar. A flowing shirt and light gray pants. Even in such simple clothing, the beauty of his face hadn't diminished. Though his personality was rotten, he had to admit that face was exceptionally handsome.

Did God, loving his son, meticulously craft even his face when creating him? At first surprised, he soon found himself curiously observing Harenir, but unexpectedly, Harenir was also staring at him intently. Rolling his blue eyes, he slowly looked him up and down before speaking.

"...You woke up after three days."